Holmgren sees progress in recent play

Despite a third-period meltdown in Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to Anaheim, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren believes his team is still headed in the right direction.

Some of that is based on two straight wins followed by arguably the team’s best period of the season in the first stanza of the game against the Ducks.

Obviously, the horrific 16 turnovers for the game were unacceptable but some of those were mistakes that can be corrected.

Probably the most important thing is the crisis of confidence that manifested itself early in the campaign appears to be dissipating. Pucks might not be going in yet but the quantity, and quality, of scoring chances look like they’re going up.

“You can take some positives from the way we’ve played,’’ Holmgren pointed out in a telephone conversation on Wednesday while his team had a day off. “There were some big cracks in the third period last night but hockey is a lot like football in a lot or ways or basketball – if you don’t manage the ball properly you’re going to be in trouble.

“We started to break down and the Ducks capitalized. But I do like a lot of our game. We need to make the right plays for 60 minutes.’’

Holmgren has no qualms with the team’s effort. On the other hand, he’s watched goaltender Steve Mason bail out his 3-8 club night after night. Mason’s head was spinning against the Ducks; in the third period alone, he faced a whopping 16 shots in the first 16 minutes.

When asked about this, Holmgren stated: “He’s been our best player. It’s not even close.’’

One other talking point has to be the performances of some of the team’s young stars, such as Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn.

Through 11 games, Couturier has no goals and just three assists. He’s a plus-1, so he hasn’t been a liability. After a fast start, Schenn has just three assists in his last seven games.

Up to now, the organization has been patient but both players are into their third full seasons and the expectation level has to be raised a bit.

Holmgren doesn’t go out of his way to speak to these guys but if they happen to pass each other in the hallway, some words of advice might be offered.

“One expectation we have is that they play a good game every night or at least put the work in every night,’’ Holmgren said. “I don’t buy that (inexperience) any more, they’ve been around the league.’’

Holmgren said no player is exempt from criticism if an error is made at a critical time in a game. Mistakes are chiefly to blame for why the Flyers remain at the bottom of the East standings.

“Right now we’re on the wrong side of the (stats) line,’’ he said, “and we need to change that.’’

The GM also said he’s not actively pursuing changes in his roster, certainly not on the scale of the Thomas Vanek-to-Islanders trade this week.

“You’re always looking to improve your team,’’ he said. “Right now we’re 3-8. I’m not sure if we were 8-3 we would be having any less conversations around the league. I like our team, I think we can turn this around, there’s no question in my mind.

“We need to turn some of these decent efforts into 60-minute efforts and once we start doing that we’ll start winning some games.’’

As for Claude Giroux, Holmgren said the second-year captain is under a lot of pressure. Giroux, who signed an eight-year, $66.2-million contract in the offseason, has yet to score his first goal, although he does have five assists in his last six games.

“I think Claude’s play has gotten incrementally better over the last little while,’’ said Holmgren, mindful of the fact the player missed most of the preseason recovering from finger surgery. “Last night (Anaheim) might have been one of his better games.

“Claude’s got a big burden on his shoulders, he’s the captain of the team and our best player and he hasn’t scored. That’s a lot of weight to be carrying around. But he knows the drill. I look for him to be even better on Friday (vs. Washington).’’

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